A Few Paces Short

The semester break has finally given me the time to share this post with you. Its not the typical 'Happy Ending' kind of a story! But happens to be one of the most exciting and worthwhile experiences I have ever had.

Background: Siemens Master Program is an esteemed scholarship program which besides financing the tuition fees and living expenses of the successful candidates, opens doors to future career opportunities at the MNC. My online application and a telephonic interview in german had in their words, "made them curious about me"! The email went on to offer a whole day evaluation session, THE GRAND FINALE, the last hurdle towards glory! To add to the excitement, the proposed date was in between my semester exams! Putting the subsequent Math paper on the line, I decided to go. 

Having taken my first exam in Germany, I boarded the train for Erlangen. The 3 hour journey was not to be uneventful. One of the connections happened to be my first time experience in an ICE – Inter City Express (the fast german train). As I settled in my seat, looking around awed like a girl in a barbie store, here comes a (not-so) friendly neighbourhood cop! Like others of his lot, his hobby apparently was admiring the passports of the 'not german looking' people! My heart skipped a beat as I realized I was not carrying mine! Luckily a copy lying in my wallet would do. After some exchange of rapid german over the phone, he seemed satisfied and moved on in his beat mumbling some feigned courtesies. Once at Erlangen, I got off at a bus stop too soon! With directions from a chanced passerby on the deserted streets, I took a long evening walk to my hotel.

A shock awaited me at the reception desk. The booking had been made by someone from Siemens and I conveniently assumed that it was already paid for. But the lovely blond receptionist handing me the 100 Euro bill politely rubbished my understanding! I would of course be reimbursed for it later, but had to pay NOW. To my embarrassment my credit card was enjoying the warmth of my cupboard back in my dorm and I was of course not carrying that much in cash. Thankfully my sub-continent appearance and pitiable desperation won her sympathy! She agreed to let me crash for the night, when I promised to jog to the nearest ATM first thing in the morning. With the exhaustion of the exam, the journey and the series of unexpected occurrences, I hit the (very expensive) sack after a quick packed dinner.

At 4:00 am in sleep, a frightening question arose in my mind. What the **** is my debit card pin code???!!! I could recall all 4 digits, but could not remember the right order! Is it Dyslexia what they call it?! The rest of the night was spent in a mental game of “guess the right order”!!! Man!!! Does shit happen at times or what! Around 6:00 am I remembered that I had left my room keys with a friend! Feeling groggy from the lack of sleep, I recovered the pin and hurried to the nearest ATM in the biting cold of the dawn. After grudgingly paying an exorbitant fee for withdrawing from a different bank, I picked up some Bambergers (a bakery product) and walked back to the hotel.

In all this mess, I had not given enough thought to what I had gone through all the trouble for. I had a god damned whole day of interviews and assessments to follow!!! Pushing aside these frustrations and ever haunting thoughts of the coming Math exam, I pulled myself together and tried to prepare myself mentally for the task at hand. When it was time, I hastily downed the Bambergers, having decided against the hotel breakfast – a luxury I could ill afford (remember what the stay is costing me?!) I packed up and proceeded to the reception desk to pay and check out, only to discover to my dismay that breakfast was included in my bill, whether I ate or not! Having neither the mood nor the time to eat now, I completed the formalities and headed out.

Competing with thoughts of exams, cops and breakfast, I struggled to make room for the INTERVIEW in my mind, as I walked to the Assessment Center. I was one of the 6 to be assessed on D-DAY. Talking to my competitors I felt overwhelmed by their backgrounds, exposure and experience. I felt a rush of pride flow through my veins as the realization of the level at which I was competing sank into me. I was one among 54 finalists selected from all over the world, but only 30 among us would take away the honours! I was relieved of the earlier pressure and tension as I made up my mind to give it my all and leave the rest to the unknown! Burdens feel so much lighter when one accepts that some things are out of one's control! After some introductions and refreshments, we embarked upon our schedule for the day. As the ball was set rolling, each new activity brought a different challenge, ranging from personal interview to activities in pairs to group tasks. Every facet of one's personality and capability was put to the test. I managed to better my performance with every subsequent round and carried my accumulated confidence to the next. At the end of it, out of the 6 activities, I was able to excel at 4, but was found wanting at 2 due to my non-native german language skills. Needless to mention, most of the assessment was in german! At the end of it all, I took the train back home, an exhausted but satisfied chap. There was hardly the time to be spent on the day's analysis. The Math challenge was to encountered next!

The day before my last exam, the result reached my inbox. I had NOT made it. I was disappointed. I really felt that my performance had been worthy of the accolades. Guess it had not been my lucky couple of days to begin with! All the same, life goes on or at least the exam the next day would go on as per schedule! So pushing aside the story for my blog, I said "Hello" to the next chapter!

From all this, I learnt to enjoy the race as much as the victory. Although I couldn't make it to the finish line that day, I grew stronger to run another race another day.